Harold Varmus, M.D., Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), today
announced the appointment of Allen M. Spiegel, M.D., as Director of the National
Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), the leading
federal agency supporting research in diabetes, endocrinology and metabolic
diseases; digestive diseases and nutrition; and kidney, urologic and hematologic
diseases. The appointment is effective November 15, 1999.

"I am very pleased that Allen Spiegel, one of the nation's most distinguished
medical scientists, will be assuming leadership of NIDDK. NIDDK is responsible
for addressing some of the most important chronic and seemingly intractable
diseases facing us today," said Dr. Varmus in announcing the appointment. "With
advanced understanding of the genetic underpinning of disease at the cellular
level, Allen and the Institute are well positioned to dramatically affect the
prevention and treatment of many diseases."

Dr. Spiegel is an internationally recognized endocrinologist whose research on
signal transduction has helped to define the genetic basis of several endocrine
diseases. His research established that inherited disease can be caused by
defects in G proteins, which serve as intermediaries between hormone receptors
and effectors. Dr. Spiegel and colleagues at NIH have identified mutations in G
proteins that result in defective cell-signalling and
cause inherited disorders such as pseudohypoparathyroidism type Ia and
McCune-Albright syndrome. He and his colleagues have also identified and
studied mutations in G protein-coupled receptors that lead to either hormone
resistance in diseases such as nephrogenic diabetes insipidus or endocrine
hyperfunction in diseases such as familial male precocious puberty. His current
studies on a G protein-coupled calcium-sensing receptor may enable researchers
to target treatment for hyperparathyroidism and other disorders involving this
receptor.

Dr. Spiegel has also participated in a collaborative effort with colleagues in
NIDDK and the National Human Genome Research Institute at NIH to clone the tumor
suppressor gene which, when mutated, causes the inherited disease multiple
endocrine neoplasia type 1 (MEN 1), as well as a number of sporadic endocrine
and other tumors. The collaborative group is now studying the structure and
function of the MEN 1 gene and its encoded protein, menin.

"Throughout my career, I have tried to forge strong links between fundamental
science and clinical medicine. Now, I am enthusiastic about being able to do
this on a larger scale," Dr. Spiegel says.

Dr. Spiegel comes to the directorship of NIDDK from his position as Scientific
Director of NIDDK. For the past nine years, in addition to an active research
career, he has led one of the largest and most productive intramural research
programs on the NIH campus in Bethesda, Maryland. Dr. Spiegel guided 21
different laboratories and branches that study diabetes, metabolic diseases,
sickle cell anemia and other red blood cell disorders, endocrinology, hepatitis
B and C, genetics, biochemistry, molecular, cellular, developmental and
structural biology. He has recently established a new branch to study
pathogenesis of type 1 diabetes and to test new treatments to allow kidney and
pancreatic islet transplantation in patients without use of global
immunosuppressive agents.

Dr. Spiegel says that NIDDK must continue its strong support for basic science
because it offers "the best promise for discovering new knowledge relevant to
human disease." At the same time, he adds, "We must vigorously support efforts
to apply this new knowledge so that it reaches patients afflicted with the many
serious disorders NIDDK studies, and measurably improves their and their
families' lives."

As the new director of NIDDK, Dr. Spiegel will oversee a staff of 900 employees
and an annual budget of $1 billion. The Institute supports research by
investigators in medical centers, universities and laboratories throughout the
United States. The 3,000 grantees of NIDDK are contributing to advances in the
understanding and treatment of diabetes, cystic fibrosis, hormone disorders and
diseases, digestive diseases, obesity, basic nutrition, polycystic kidney
disease, end stage renal disease, kidney stones, interstitial cystitis, prostate
disease, and blood disorders. In addition, NIDDK conducts both basic and
clinical research at its facilities in Bethesda, Maryland and Phoenix, Arizona.

After graduating cum laude from Harvard Medical School in 1971, Spiegel
completed an internship and residency in internal medicine at Massachusetts
General Hospital in Boston. He came to NIDDK's Endocrinology Research Training
Program in 1973 under the mentorship of the late Dr. Gerald Aurbach and became a
senior investigator in the Metabolic Diseases Branch and Chief of the section of
molecular pathophysiology eight years later. In 1988, he was promoted to branch
chief. Spiegel has received numerous awards in recognition of his
accomplishments, most recently, the 1998 Edwin B. Astwood Lecture Award from the
Endocrine Society and the 1996 Komrower Memorial Lecture Award from the Society
for the Study of Inborn Errors of Metabolism.